


Far Away

by starspangledlibra



Category: Free!
Genre: College visits, M/M, Slight Future AU, a bit of angst, a lot of fluff
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-02-28
Updated: 2014-02-27
Packaged: 2018-01-14 00:47:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,698
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1246447
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/starspangledlibra/pseuds/starspangledlibra
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rei and Nagisa, now about to be third-year students, visit a university together, but when Nagisa fails to take the visit seriously, Rei begins to wonder about their future together. They're best friends now, but what will happen once they graduate?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Far Away

**Author's Note:**

> Hey there, Readers! So if this story looks familiar, you probably frequent FF.net, because that's where I originally posted it! :P But since I just recently got an account on here, I figured I'd repost it here, for people who don't go onto FF.net anymore. So if you've already read it, nothing about it has changed (Though i do plan on writing a oneshot sequel to it in the future). And if you haven't read it, welcome! I hope you enjoy :)

Rei loved watching his best friend sleep. He was well aware of how creepy that might sound, so he never told anyone, not even Nagisa himself. In fact, the little blond would probably give him the hardest time out of anyone if he ever mentioned it to him. But that didn't change the fact that when Nagisa slept, he looked like an angel. That when those magenta eyes closed, and the soft lines on his face faded into nothing, he looked so serene, so peaceful, which was a complete contrast from how he was when he was awake. Even now, with his head leaning against the window of the train, with his hair ruffled from movement, and cookie crumbs in his lap, there was something about the way the sunlight hit his face, giving a gleam to his lightly tanned skin. He was beautiful.

"Mmmm, Rei-chan," the blond mumbled. ReI froze. Had Nagisa heard him; was he making too much noise and woken his friend up? He had thought for sure that all of those things had stayed in his head like they were supposed to, but maybe something had slipped out…

"Yes?" he answered hesitantly. "What is it?" Silence pervaded for a moment, and then:

"Rei-chan, your butt… looks nice in that speedo, but… I think it's too small…"

"Erg-?!" A deep blush spread across Rei's cheeks before he realized what was happening. Then he groaned. Nagisa was still asleep. Of course. How could he have forgotten about his friend's unfortunate tendency to talk in his sleep? So often when Nagisa was sleeping nearby, either at night, or at lunch break, during one of Nagisa's frequent afternoon naps, Rei would hear his name, along with what was usually incoherent nonsense, and then all would fall silent once again, indicating that the other boy was indeed still asleep. This was exactly what happened here; though Nagisa stirred, he did nothing to acknowledge Rei's attention, and so with a sigh, Rei returned to his book, the hint of a smile on his face.

The truth was, he actually found it slightly endearing, if not a little odd, that the blond dreamt about him so much (sometimes he almost wished he could see these dreams, maybe catch a glimpse of what was going on inside that head of his). But what did that mean? Weren't dreams simply desires or fears stored deep in the human subconscious? If that was true, then, well, he knew Nagisa didn't fear him, so did he desire him, or…

Rei shook these thoughts away. What kind of conclusion was he trying to draw from these thoughts anyway? That Nagisa liked him? Loved him? Secretly desired to have Rei all to himself? What proof did he have- just because he was constantly touching him, and that he mumbled his name a few times a week; did that mean… No. That was ridiculous! Nagisa showered everyone with physical affection; that was just who he was. And as for the dreams, they were best friends.. Ever since Rei had joined the swim team nearly two years ago, they had become nearly inseparable. They did everything together. They went to school together, always jogging the last mile, sometimes Rei jogging the last half mile with Nagisa on his back, if he was particularly tired that morning. They ate lunch together, they swam together, they did homework together, though doing homework together often meant that Rei would do all the work, and Nagisa would get up to make snacks, and then copy the answers when he returned. They hung out on the weekends together, at the beach, or at the movies… Even now, here they were, visiting their first university together. It all made sense. Nagisa spent so much time with Rei; of course he thought about him a lot. Therefore, it was only natural that Rei would appear in his dreams, as he was so often in his thoughts.

Yes. There was nothing wrong with that- two best friends spending a lot of time together, one appearing in the other's dreams sometimes. Rei had never once dreamed about Nagisa; well actually, he had, a few times in fact, but the nature of these dreams was not something he cared to discuss with Nagisa, or well, really anyone. Rei could feel the blush rising in his cheeks again, his pants suddenly feeling tighter at the memory of those dreams. Not that there was anything wrong with that either; this was just information that he didn't want to share with anyone, lest they get the wrong idea. As a teenage boy, Rei had needs and urges sometimes, and, well… Nagisa was an attractive young man, whom he often saw with his shirt off during swim practice. He was also usually the last person that Rei would see, who wasn't a family member, before he went to bed. It was only natural.

Rei was brought back to the present when he felt a weight suddenly drop onto his shoulder. He turned to find that that weight was Nagisa's head. Normally, he didn't mind it when Nagisa used him as a pillow; he did it all the time, but right now, the tightness in his pants was already making him uncomfortable, and he feared it would only get worse if he let the small blond stay where he was, with his head on his shoulder, his hand brushing up against his thigh. Rei squirmed in discomfort and crossed his legs. Yeah, he definitely had to move him. And so, as gently as possible, Rei reached over with his free arm and shook his friend lightly.

"Nagisa-kun… Nagisa-kun?" Slowly, the other boy awoke, mumbling something along the lines of 'what time is it?' as he sat up and rubbed his eyes.

"Oh hi, Rei-Chan," he said with a yawn. "Are we there yet?" Rei shook his head.

"Not yet. Almost. Just a couple more hours."

"A couple more hours?" he whined. "But Rei-chan, we've been on the train all day!"

"No, not all day. We've only been on this train for five hours, and…" He glanced at his watch. "Twenty-three minutes."

"Ugh, it feels even longer when you say it like that! We should have gone to Osaka first- that's where Mako-chan and Haru-chan are going in April… And it's a lot closer."

"Quit complaining. I was nice enough to register the both of us for this visit; I could have easily just registered myself. Besides, weren't you the one who said that we should do this together, something about the bond of going on a trip with your best friend?"

"Well, yeah, but I didn't know it would take this long. I thought we'd be flying!"

"Plane tickets to Tokyo would have cost too much money, especially on such short notice. Besides, I… don't like flying very much." He broke Nagisa's gaze and stared down awkwardly at the floor of the train. "Air sickness is not beautiful."

Nagisa laughed. "Ahh, that's right! I guess you wouldn't want to fly again, huh; not after what happened on the flight to nationals."

Rei groaned. "Don't remind me."

"Well, it wasn't all bad though! The stewardess was really nice and gave us all whatever we wanted for the rest of the flight."

"Oh, and I'm sure it was great for you, with your three ice cream sundaes and strawberry soda! I couldn't keep anything down!"

"Ahh, yeah, I guess you're right; it was more fun for the rest of us than it was for you... Sorry, Rei-chan."

"Well, the whole experience was not entirely awful, I suppose. The free movie service we received did help take my mind off of things a bit. And we did end up winning the tournament, so it was all worth it in the end."

Nagisa smiled. "Yeah… But if it saves Rei-chan's stomach to take the train, then I guess it's better to take the train… It's so boring just sitting here though! And my iPod died earlier this morning."

"Well, you should have charged it last night like I tol… Here, just use mine," he said, pulling a purple MP3 player out of his bag. Immediately, Nagisa's eyes lit up.

"Ooh, I get to listen to Rei-chan's music; this will be fun!" He turned on the iPod and began untangling the earbuds. "But… what will you listen to?" Rei smirked.

"I don't need to listen to anything right now; I've brought my book, which will keep me perfectly entertained until we… reach… Tokyo." But before he could finish his sentence, the smaller boy had already jammed an earbud into his ear, taking the other one for himself.

"We'll share, ok?" he asked. Then, not waiting for an answer, he chose the first song. Rei groaned as he heard what he knew to be the beginnings of the song Butterfly by Smile. Nagisa played this for him all the time, ever since learning that Rei had a thing for butterflies. He had played it the entire week incessantly, after the team had found that Rei could do the butterfly stroke. He thought it was slightly cheesy back then, but now, it was just plain annoying. His annoyance slowly faded into confusion, however, as he realized something important. "Wait, how did-" he started, but Nagisa had already broken down into a fit of giggles. "It was you- you put this on my iPod, didn't you?!"

"N-no… I don't know what you're talking about! Nagisa tried his best to answer with a straight face, but he ultimately failed and started laughing again. At Rei's glare, he simply smiled. "Aww, lighten up, Rei-chan," he said as he nudged his friend in the ribs. "I know you love this song!" Rei turned away, pushing his glasses further up the bridge of his nose.

"Love is hardly the word I would use to describe my feelings for this song. I'm deleting it as soon as we get home." But the sight of the blond bouncing excitedly in his seat to the obnoxious tune, his dark pink eyes so alive, so happy; that happiness was contagious. Rei sighed. Maybe the song wasn't so bad after all.


End file.
